Joliet's Murders Since 2020: How Many Slayings Have Detectives Solved?

JOLIET —Why haven't you read about many unsolved murder cases in the city of Joliet during the past five years? That's because the Joliet Police Department's criminal investigations division has solved or cleared 79 percent of Joliet's homicides since 2020, a Joliet Patch analysis of the Joliet Police Department's homicide data showed.

Joliet police handled a total of 52 homicides dating back to Jan. 1, 2020, which means the city averaged 10.4 homicides per year during that time frame.

In 41 of the 52 homicides, Joliet police made an arrest or in a handful of cases, the homicide was deemed an exceptional clearance, such as last September's deadly stabbing of 2-year-old Christopher Urbina at his family's house on Fairway Drive. Joliet police announced that Christopher's older brother was the killer, but because the boy was only 6 years old, he was too young to prosecute for the slaying, according to Joliet Deputy Police Chief Carlos Matlock.

Most of Joliet's 2024 murders will not be prosecuted at the Will County Courthouse because the people responsible for the slayings took their own lives.

Last January, Joliet police determined that Romeo "Alex" Nance committed a mass murder on West Acres Road, killing seven family members before fatally shooting himself in Texas as he was trying to flee to Mexico. Police also believe he was responsible for two other random shootings, including one that left 28-year-old Toyosi Bakare dead near the Pheasant Run apartments.

Then in May, Joliet police announced that Michael Aud-Headlee had fatally stabbed himself in the street on Pandola Avenue after killing his estranged wife, Melissa Ronczkowski, at her home, after showing up there uninvited.

"It's done. It's an exceptional clearance. We're not working on it," explained John Ross, the Joliet Police Department lieutenant of criminal investigations.

"Excellent Detective Work"

In January, Joliet Patch interviewed Matlock, Ross and Tizoc Landeros, the detective sergeant for investigations. The three high-ranking Joliet police officials said they are extremely proud of the work performed by their team of detectives.

"They're giving 100 percent," Matlock emphasized.

Ross said the "excellent detective work" has contributed to Joliet police's high clearance rate for homicides during the five-year period.

"We are proud of our detectives, their tenacity, perseverance, persistence and curiosity," Ross said.

Ross also credited "our law enforcement partners" at the Will County State's Attorney's Office of Jim Glasgow for working closely with Joliet police detectives by filing charges in the overwhelming percentage of homicides during these past five years.

"It's a whole team effort when solving each crime," Ross explained. "It's excellent police work and it's excellent follow through."

Ross noted that Joliet's detectives are not just assigned to homicides, they also handle most of the domestic battery cases as well as "small cases" such as criminal damage to property and phone harassments.

"Detectives who work criminal damage to property one week are working homicides the next week," Ross pointed out.

At present, Joliet police have 18 detectives plus three more detectives assigned to Joliet's high school buildings: Joliet West, Joliet Central and Plainfield South.

Before being promoted to the rank of detective, Joliet police officers usually must have at least three years on the street in the patrol unit.

"Many have more than that," Ross explained.

Over the past couple years, the Joliet Police Department has lost some of its most experienced detectives to retirement and promotions including Don McKinney who is now a sergeant.

On the other hand, Dave Jackson, a detective of about 20 years, will be retiring in March. Paul Rodriguez, another experienced detective, is also expected to retire this year.

"It hurts in a way, but that creates opportunities for a younger officer to build those skills," Ross said.

"They Always Remain Open"

Landeros said Joliet's detectives, on average, work between 100 to 150 criminal cases per year.

"Every case you're assigned, you're trained to solve," Landeros explained.

Landeros noted that overall, Joliet Police Department "is working well with each other" including evidence technicians and patrol officers working closely with the detectives and vice versa.

Even when an arrest is made, Landeros explained, the detectives assigned to the slaying actively work on it as it remains in the pretrial stage.

"Detectives work to continue to gather evidence and statements. It's an ongoing investigation up until conviction," Landeros remarked.

Matlock said that the Joliet police supervisors have done a great job of helping the detectives as well.

"Professional guidance from the supervisors," Matlock repeated. "Supervisors up there have been detectives."

"Evidence techs help in developing leads and following up on leads," Ross pointed out.

On another positive note, the city of Joliet has invested funds by helping Joliet police obtain the latest technology and attend police training and conferences. "Then, it's up to our detectives to take that training and make it useful," Ross said.

Landeros said the relationship between the community and detectives is strong in 2025.

And even though some homicides don't get solved with an arrest, "they always remain open, and your hope is that new evidence comes to light," Landeros explained.

Joliet Patch determined there are 11 unsolved homicides in Joliet during the past five years: one in 2024, two in 2023, four from 2022, one from 2021 and three from 2020.

In regard to the Joliet Police Department's unsolved murders, Landeros encouraged citizens to reach out to the Will County Crimestoppers website "if you have tips. You can text or email information and you remain anonymous the whole time," Landeros stressed.

As far as the Joliet police's ability to solve nearly 80 percent of the city's homicides from 2020 through 2024, Ross said: "I think we've gotten lucky over the last couple of years, but luck is at the intersection of preparation and persistence.

"Our detectives will just keep on and keep on and keep on until they can hunt down every lead," Ross said. "Plus, there's the community cooperation with that ... Our detectives try to get these (families of) victims and witnesses to talk with us."

In regard to Joliet's homicides, Landeros ended the interview by saying, "the community wants what we want, to make our community safer and hold people accountable."

Joliet Patch obtained the following homicide data through a Freedom of Information Act request in order to track the Joliet Police Department's progress at solving homicides during the past five years: 2020, 2021,2022, 2023 and 2024.

Keep in mind, this data only concerns homicides in the city of Joliet's limits. Homicides in Joliet Township are investigated by the Will County Sheriff's Office.

2024 City of Joliet homicides: 12 victims

October 5:
Victim: Everett Cole, age 42,
Location: 830 Wenborg Street
Arrest: Kendrick Pullen

September 6:

Victim: Christopher Urbina, 2
Location: 2705 Fairway Drive

Arrest: Exceptional Clearance/Christopher's older brother was only 6 years old.

June 1:
Victim: Fernando Conteras, 23
Location: 417 Kraker Avenue
Arrests: John Hernandez Jr. and Elian Raya

May 29
Victim: Tenzell Terry, 25, former co-defendant in a 2020 Joliet double murder case
Location: 2358 White Birch Lane
Arrest: No/remains unsolved

May 11
Victim: Melissa Ronczkowski, 35
Location: 3426 Pandola Avenue
Arrest: Exceptional clearance/Michael Aud-Headlee committed suicide

Jan. 22
7 Victims: William Esters, 35, Tameaka Nance, 47, Angel Nance, 14, Alexandra Nance, 20, Alonnah Nance, 16, Joshua Nance, 31, and Christine Esters, 38.
Locations: 2225 West Acres Road and 2212 West Acres Road
Arrest: Exceptional clearance/Romeo Nance committed suicide.

2023 City of Joliet homicides: 11 victims

December 20:
Victim: Bernadette Quasie, 49
Location: 6452 Langford Lane
Arrest: Justin Holman

Dec. 13:
Victim: Alicia Cole, 40
Location: 1106 Westshire Drive
Arrest: Willie Banks

Nov. 17:

Victim: Michael Pappas, 61
Location: 1314 Rowell Ave., now-former Salem Village nursing home
Arrest: Wiliam Paschall

Aug. 31:
Victim: Cynthia Pinnick, 58
Location: 221 Hunter Avenue
Arrest: Timothy Thurmond

Aug. 4:
Francisco Ramirez, age 45,
Location: 212 Herkimer Street
Arrest: No, remains unsolved

July 19:
Victim: Miguel Mendoza, 23
Location: Baker Avenue and 2nd Avenue
Arrest: No, remains unsolved

June 6:
Victim: Latrel Smith-Vaden, 20
Location: 604 East Benton Street
Arrest: Nathan Melchor

June 3:
Victim: Taylor Guerra, 23
Location: 1002 Kelly Avenue
Arrest: Demetrius Glover

May 30:

Victim: Antoine Shopshire, 16
Location: 464 South Joliet Street
Arrest: Jaquan Blalock

March 27:
Victim: Matthew Woodfork, 50
Location: 716 Fairlane Drive
Arrest: Jakeem Williams

Jan. 8:
Victim: Maya Smith, 24
Location: 1214 Oakland Avenue
Arrest: Jermaine Mandley

2022 City of Joliet homicides: 9 victims

Oct. 30:
Victim: Jeffery Faint, 27
Location: Columbia Street and Henderson Avenue
Arrest: No, remains unsolved

Oct. 24:

Victim: Jorge Chiguil-Toto, 40
Location: 413 Meeker Avenue
Arrest: Jose Aguilar Moreno

Sept. 5:

Victim: Tremarion Williams, 16
Location: 1850 McDonough Street
Arrest: Eleuterio Roman

Aug. 1:

Victim: Ricky Moffett, 59
Location: 2504 West Jefferson Street, (Murphy's Express)
Arrest: John Williamson

July 31:

Victim: Jaron Lymon, 35
Location: 1303 West Jefferson Street
Arrest: No, remains unsolved

July 13:

Victim: Christopher Ellinger,
Location: 221 Hunter Avenue
Arrest: Sean Rathe

May 24:

Victim: Felicia Wiggins, 55
Location: 1305 West Jefferson Street
Arrest: No, remains unsolved

March 21:
Victim: Derek Walsh, 39
Location: 1119 Plainfield Road
Arrest: D'Kiva Jones

Feb. 15:

Victim: Andrew Knox, 29
Location: 706 Francis Street
Arrest: No, remains unsolved

2021 City of Joliet homicides: 5 victims

Dec. 8:

Victim: Timothy Bokholdt, 53
906 Natoma Court
Arrest: Anthony Harames

July 17:

Victim: Aaron Harris, 40
Location: 826 Horseshoe Drive
Arrest: No, remains unsolved

May 22:

Victim: Diego Arriaga, 17
Location: 606 East Cass Street, Blue Kangaroo parking lot
Arrest: Cristian Ortiz-Arias

April 4:

Victim: Jwaun Jones, 18
Location: North Hickory Street and Western Avenue
Arrest: Aidan Marquez-Martinez, Paola Diaz and Abraham Bibian II

March 31:

Victim: Sonja Underwood, 56
Location: 215 Illinois Street
Arrest: Ben Rockett

202o City of Joliet homicides 15 victims:

Oct. 26:

Victim: Ivan Perez-Garcia, 25
Location: 112 Seeser Street
Arrest: Jorge Rosas

Sept. 27:

Victim: Tre Stanley, 28
Location: 415 South Raynor Avenue
Arrest: Chrstopher Garcia

Sept. 3:

Victim: Jermaine Pettigrew, 42
Location: 326 Pine Street
Arrest: Mario Noble

Aug. 23:

Joshua Robinson, 36
Location: 619 Darcy Avenue
Arrest: No, remains unsolved

July 28:

Abraham Vertiz, 17
Location: 600 East Jackson Street
Arrest: Jose Patino-Martinez

July 26:

Victim: Pedro Zabala, 16
Location: South Ottawa Street and Munroe Street
Arrest: Jimmy Baker

July 9:

Victim: Vonta Perry, 24
Location: 215 Lincoln Street
Arrest: No, remains unsolved

June 12:

Victim: Derrick William-Scott, 32

Location: 1105 Richards Street

Arrest: Nathaniel Hill

April 28:

Victim: Todd Taylor, 20

Location: 359 Grant Avenue

Arrest: Dartavius Payton

April 28:

Victim: Floyd Faint Sr., 47
Location: 701 Francis Avenue
Arrest: No, remains unsolved

April 5:

Victims: Treveal Barefield, 18, and Treshon Holland, 24

Location: 1112 Parkwood Drive

Arrests: Jhakiren Pickens and Tenzell Terry, Terry became a Joliet murder victim in 2024.

Feb. 26:

Victims: Tracy Williams, 45, and Bernard Mable, 53

Location: South Chicago Street and 5th Avenue

Arrest: Tommie McDonald

Feb. 7:

Victim: Jermaine Frazier, 17

Location: 200 block of Republic Avenue

Arrests: Jeremiah Gavin, Javontae Gray and Rasean Stokes